Delicious Candy in the Occupational Therapy Clinic
When working as an occupational therapist in my home country, there was an unwritten rule: never eat children’s food or snacks. Who wants to see a child cry after they tell you that you can eat their chips only to discover that they did not mean it? Not me! At least not before that day in the sensory integration room.
There was a cute girl who came to occupational therapy because she had a learning disorder. She was so shy. As I asked her to start playing, she had numerous hesitations and needed a lot of cues, encouragement, and positive feedback. I was trying hard not to pressure her to be friends with me, and at the same time, I was trying to find ways to connect with her. Unfortunately, I was not having much luck. She had bad experiences at school and with her teachers. She had overheard her teachers say that she had problems learning and that it was difficult to work with her. When I asked her why she thought she was at the occupational therapy clinic, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I am here because I am stupid!”. It was so harsh, but her feeling was so. I did not have a straightforward way to change her mind.
When I put this shy girl into the swing, which was a unique swing like a suspended basket which a child could stand on, she took her hand out of her pocket and said, “I have something for you.”. She showed me what looked like a candy with orange bits on it and some small tissue pieces stuck to it. She held the candy out to me in her bare hand.
“Oh!” I spoke.
My rule repeated in my mind: never eat children’s snacks! But the very first step in working with children is making relationships. This little girl is shy, thinks she’s stupid and is offering me an unwrapped candy that has spent some time in her pocket. I made my decision!
“Oh, yes! Thank you!”
I accepted the candy. She looked into my eyes: “Don’t you want to eat it?”
“Oh, I will” I smiled. “What about yourself?”
“Eat it, please. I have just one.” she insisted.
I paused. She asked: “Don’t you like it?”
“Oh, I do!”
Well, I put that candy in my mouth and my eyes immediately filled with tears. It was most definitely not delicious. It tasted awful.
“Did you like it?”
I smiled:” I…It is different! Very new!”
I went to take something from the closet – just an excuse to secretly spit out the candy.
“We don’t eat it regularly,” she said while I was hiding the candy in the tissue.
“Oh really? Why?” I asked; however, the reason was obvious!
She laughed, and I saw a look in her eyes. She did not answer my question but she enjoyed her remaining time in her treatment session and was playing with me.
That night, I could not stop thinking about that girl. I knew that she knew that the candy tasted awful. I had to do something about this because that’s what occupational therapists do! I made a plan and got permission from her parents.
When she came in for her next session, I happily called her name and said: “I have something for you!”
I took out the package. “This is something for you. In our previous session, you gave me candy. Now I brought you fruit leather as an appreciation. It is very special, and we do not eat it regularly!”
She looked upward and took the fruit leather. “Don’t you like fruit leather?”
She looked down: “I do. It is my favourite!”
“So, there you go!” I smiled.
“What about you?” She opened the package.
“I just have one! It’s for you!” I answered.
She started eating the fruit leather cautiously, expecting an awful taste, but…
“But it is delicious!” she was surprised!
“Yes, it is!” I smiled.
“But…” she did not continue.
“But what?”
“What I gave you was not delicious.”
“You did not know my taste, but I knew yours. You were trying to be kind to me; that is important...”
At the end of our session, she took her bag and said, “I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“That candy was for my aunt’s pet.”
“That’s okay,” I said, while my stomach started to dance.
“Are we friends?” she asked.
“Forever!” I answered.
She hugged me and left with a big smile. After that, she made excellent improvement in her learning abilities and did better than everyone expected.
And me? I added a new unwritten rule: Ask about any family pet in the first session!
The moral of the story is that making connections with our patients is very important. These connections and building a trusting relationship can improve their treatment and rehabilitation outcomes.
Minoo Dabiri
I am a post-doctoral fellow in the occupational therapy department at the University of Manitoba. My research area is about play, children with special needs, and how technology can improve children’s play. This is important because play is a young child’s primary occupation and their right. In addition to completing my masters and PhD in occupational therapy, I also worked ten years as a therapist.